Letter to the Editor: Senior citizen perspective of bag fee

Plastic bags are not free. Dirty plastic bags blemish our bayfront, our beaches, neighborhoods, and they cost city tourism dollars. Even if the bag makes it to the garbage can and stays there, it will never decompose as a paper bag does. It costs money to recycle plastic bags and find a market for them.

Meanwhile, we need to do something positive, something to discourage the flagrant use of plastic bags from the retail market. We can start fairly, by charging a bag fee to those who want plastic bag packaging. Think “shipping charge,” “process and handling fee,” etc.

The bag fee as proposed by our mayor and City Council is a step in the right direction to reduce litter in our city. The fee will encourage all of us to pay attention and become part of the solution rather than part of the problem of adding blemishes on our landscape. Retired people who move to our city and senior citizens deserve to enjoy naturally beautiful surroundings without the increasing amounts of landscape litter.

It is much easier to use the fabric tote bags and unpack one, two or even three of them rather than to carry many “free” plastic bags with only two or three items.

Meanwhile, proceeds from the bag fee could be used for finding an appropriate way to eliminate the costs associated with clearing them from our landscape.